COMPUTATION OF LIVESTOCK RATIONS
Ration:
– Is the amount of food that will provide essential nutrients to an animal in a 24 hour period.
– To enable that animal to meet its maintenance and production requirements.
Balanced ration:
– ls the ration that contains all the essential nutrients in required amounts and in the right proportion.
Maintenance ration:
– is the portion of a feed required by an animal to continue with the vital body processes with no loss or gain in weight.
Production ration:
– ls the feed required by animals over and above maintenance ration to enable the animal to produce; > for example; milk, eggs, wool, grow in size, perform work, reproduce and fatten.
Steps in ration formulation
- Finding out the animal’s feed requirement based on body weight.
- List all the available feeds, with their nutrient composition and their prices.
- Calculate the amount of ingredients required in the ration to meet the animals needs.
Methods used in ration formulation
- Trial and error method
- Pearson’s square method
- Graphical method
- Linear programming(use of computers)
Examples;
Mix a Pigs ration 22% protein using soya bean meal 40% DCP and maize meal containing 8%DCP.
Pearson’s square method
